Tulsa, OK-based GUTS Church aims to be the option for those looking to break away from more traditional houses of worship. Founded by Pastor Bill Scheer in 1992, the contemporary church has a "come as you are" approach to worship—and has been at the forefront of integrating technology to better engage and interact with parishioners.
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As part of a 2022 facility upgrade, the church purchased and installed two MAXHUB Raptor Series LM220A07 220-inch integrated LED walls to enhance the messaging within its main worship sanctuary. The church liked the displays so much that it had a 138-inch model installed in a classroom in late July as part of its new school of ministry.
"We have had several members and guests approach our production team to tell us how impressed they have been with our MAXHUB walls," said Zach Blake, technical director at GUTS Church. "They have been a huge help to attendees sitting on the outside wings of our sanctuary. The MAXHUB walls provide a clear and high-quality viewing experience for people that sit in those areas."
The displays were installed on two walls that slant outward away from the main stage. Previously, the church was projecting directly onto white walls, so the image quality was dim and insufficient for the church's needs. It also didn't match the image quality of the 60-foot LED screen behind the main stage, which made the disparity highly noticeable.
Each Raptor Series display measures 16 feet wide and has a discreet profile, coming only two inches out from the wall at most. The displays deliver a striking, clean architectural aesthetic that emulates a giant TV instead of a projection screen. Both displays project content directly from the church's five-camera live stream, and GUTS Church adds lower-third graphics to display song lyrics to help further engage the congregation.
"We use our MAXHUB walls for computer graphic content as well as camera shots for our live service," said Blake. "They have provided a drastic quality boost compared to the laser projectors we had before. Plus, our team loves how easy the panels are to service."
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GUTS Church partnered with the Tulsa-based TES Productions, which offers live event production as well as integration services, to install the lightweight displays. The units offer a sleek, screwless fabric design that was easy to integrate within the existing space. "We got to see a demo of this product and were immediately sold," said Alex Forrest, sales engineer for TES Productions.
MAXHUB provided onsite support during the two-day installation process in the sanctuary, working with the TES Productions team to ensure there were no complications. Even leading up to the installation, MAXHUB provided valuable resources and insight to guarantee the installation process went as smoothly as possible. It was the first time TES Productions had installed Raptor Series products.
"I believe that as far as installs go, it was very smooth. Usually, on any construction project, you'll run into things like we didn't know there was a brick wall here, or we have to drill through to get one cable outside," said Forrest. "Stuff like that happens all the time. This one was straightforward. We had the space to work, the support of MAXHUB onsite with us, and our team is good at what they do, so it all worked out."
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The Raptor Series is available in 1080p or 4K, but the church opted for the 1080p model. "With the graphics in iMac and the closest audience member about 30 feet away, you wouldn't notice a considerable difference between the 1080p and 4K," Forrest explained.
